Tag Archives: presidential

The Obamas presidential portraits just came out, and they are amazing. SEE ALSO: The internet is enthralled by the Obamas' official portraits I want a print of each one for my home. Everyone wants a print of each one for their home. Barack Obama's portrait should be every album cover from now on. The Obamas portraits are made even better by the fact that until them, presidential portraits were either the most boring or the strangest creations of all time, and nothing in between. If I weren't from America and looked at these presidential portraits without knowing anything else, I would think it was a list of potential actors to be cast as the lead ofMr. Rogers Neighborhood. So let us take a trip down memory lane at how presidential portraits past were simply nothing until the Obamas came along.George W. Bush Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAh yes, George W. Bush. There he is. There he is looking like a tall Bilbo Baggins after he finished "There and Back Again: A Hobbit's Tale." The only thing helping this photo is the fact that there is at least a vase of flowers in the background. Otherwise, very boring portrait that looks like it was taking from my living room, as if I'm on the other side of that couch watching HGTV. And it's George W. Bush, renowned artist. They couldn't have let him paint his own portrait?John F. Kennedy Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionTo this I must say, what the hell. I mean, the guy was shot two years into his presidency and you memorialize him with this? This is an insult! It's as if he died and no one could remember what he looked like so they had a fourth grader who met him once scribble down their best effort. It's as if he testified in court but the courtroom sketch artist didn't have enough time so they just tried their best. If I were there when this portrait was unveiled, I would say "Ah yes, I can't wait to remember JFK as someone with a hamburger bun for hair and literally no feet." A stylistic choice perhaps, but whose? JFK's middle school bully? Didn't Jackie go through enough?Lyndon B. Johnson Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionAh yes, a portrait of Lyndon B. Johnson who historically walked to work every morning with one book in his hand, I guess. He looks like he's playing hooky but since he's not rebellious at heart is just going to take his homework to a Barnes & Noble and get work done there. This is one of the better portraits, but still. What's going on here?Harry S. Truman Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionI will say things got a little more exciting with Harry S. Truman, which is odd because his portrait was before all of these other presidents, so why didn't they follow his lead. Truman looks like he was placed in an enchanted forest just outside of Washington D.C. and handed some papers that look like they're right out ofHarry Potter. But seriously? Three blank papers? I'm assuming they illustrate the fact that, as president, one must sign things? Abraham Lincoln Image: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian InstitutionThis just looks like no one would let Lincoln use the bathroom until they were finished. All I can say is, thank God for Obama, who will now be remembered as someone who always shoved a chair into a wall of bushes to watch cars pass by the White House, and looked great while doing it. WATCH: Trump threw shade at Obama during his first Thanksgiving turkey pardon

By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) – Milos Zeman, the longest-standing figure in Czech post-communist politics, won a final major battle on Saturday, showing off his strong political instincts to secure a second presidential term. Zeman, 73, bet on a populist anti-immigration stance and sniping at intellectual Prague elites to mobilize his base and gain a narrow win over Jiri Drahos, a mainstream pro-European academic, in the run-off vote. A trained economist, Zeman is the last of the heavyweights who shaped the country’s post-1989 history, a trio that includes Vaclav Havel, an anti-communist dissident and later president who died in 2011, and Vaclav Klaus, a former center-right prime minister and president in 2003-2013.

By Maggie Fick and Duncan Miriri NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta in last month’s repeat presidential vote, paving the way for him to be sworn in next week. Chief Justice David Maraga said all six judges dismissed the two legal challenges to the vote. The opposition coalition NASA insisted the government was illegitimate.